Stiltskin (Andrew Buckley) (42 page)

Robert turned to Lily, who was now beaming. “You’re going to stay here.”

“Yes,” said Robert happily.

“I’m done thinking.”

“What?” said Robert.

“Back in Othaside, before we were buried alive, I said I’d think about it. Us, I mean.”

“Oh. Okay. And?”

“I do like you, Robert Darkly. I might even love you.”

Robert gave it a moment’s thought. “That’s good enough for me.”

He grabbed Lily and pulled her to him and kissed her with more passion than anyone had ever kissed anyone before in the entire history of the world. Or at least in the last five minutes of the history of the world.

“Something just occurred to me,” said Robert.

“What’s that?”

“You never told the Director about the Cat.”

“What cat?” said Lily.

“The Cat,” said Robert. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember the Cat?”

“Robert, I haven’t the faintest idea what you’re talking about. Maybe you are going mad.”

Robert shook his head.

“To be honest,” he said with a smile, “a little madness isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

obert flew swiftly through the air and crashed heavily into the wall. He quickly rolled to his left in case there was a follow-up attack. His opponent was smirking. He hated people smirking at him almost as much as he hated crashing into walls.

“Come on, Darkly,” said the smirking Goblin. “I have fifty bakewell tarts to make before dinner and I don’t have time for you to keep bleeding on me.”

Robert had begun training a month ago, and out of all the classes he was required to undertake, hand to hand combat was his least favorite. He wasn’t built for it. He was gangly and uncoordinated, which he blamed on his tallness. If something happened to his lower half, there was no chance of the message reaching his upper half in time for him to do something about it. To make matters worse, all hand-to-hand combat classes were taught by Bastian the Goblin, who was also a chef at the Inn where Robert had taken up residence.

The Agency had hired Bastian to train Robert in self-defence and fighting skills, as the Goblin, aside from being a splendid chef, was also one of the best fighters in Thiside.

“I don’t suppose we could call it a day, could we?” said Robert to the tall, slender figure who was still smirking.

“One more time,” said Bastian and assumed a fighting stance.

Robert took off at a run as his brain cycled through what he’d been taught. He feinted to the left and struck out with his heel. He caught nothing but air as the Goblin slipped underneath his kick, then jabbed him in the groin, causing him to crumple into a disorganized pile on the courtyard floor.

“Now we can call it a day,” said the Goblin, still smirking. He scratched one of his long pointy ears, grabbed a towel from a nearby rack, and sauntered off out of the courtyard.

Robert nursed his testicles and hoped they were still operable. The sun had randomly been changing its position in the sky all day and had now settled itself in the West. A figure appeared above Robert, blocking the sun.

“That looked like it hurt,” said Lily.

Robert got to his feet and tried to ignore the pain between his legs. And his shoulder. And his knuckle where he’d almost succeeded in punching Bastian but missed and hit a wall instead.

“Not really, I’m much tougher than I look. Or so I keep telling myself.”

Lily was dressed in the suit that Agents in Thiside generally wore on a day-to-day basis: black shoes, trousers, with a suit jacket, and white shirt. The uniform looked completely out of place in a world where everything looked and felt medieval, but it served its purpose. That purpose being to identify exactly who was an Agent and who was not. It also didn’t require a costume change every time an Agent had to cross over to Othaside. As usual, Lily looked fantastic. Her hair shone and her eyes gleamed.

They had kept their fondness for each other low key, but spent most of their free time together when Lily wasn’t on assignment. Robert was to apprentice with her once his training was complete. Until then, he spent his days at the Agency Castle on the outskirts of the City of Oz learning the history of Thiside and some unexpected history of Othaside. He learned about politics and how to negotiate peaceful settlements. He was taught strategy and hand-to-hand combat. The thing he’d excelled at the most was interrogation techniques. It appeared he had a knack for talking his way around, through, and over things. He found he could get into people’s heads very quickly. This pleased the Director, who was never actually pleased but often disliked certain things less, as she needed a good interrogator to replace Jack.

“How was your session today?” said Lily.

“As painful as usual. Bastian doesn’t pull his punches like he did when we started. I miss those days.”

“You’ll get the hang of it. You could practice with me, if you like?”

“No,” said Robert, “I wouldn’t want to hurt you.”

“Very thoughtful of you,” said Lily and gave him a hug.

“How come you’re here so early? I thought we weren’t meeting until later.”

“You’re not happy to see me?” she asked coyly.

“Don’t be ridiculous. Every moment I see you, I can’t help but be happy,” said Robert.

And it was true. He hadn’t been back to Othaside since the night at the graveyard. Whatever life he had back there was gone. And he didn’t miss it. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was fairly certain that it didn’t miss him, either, as he had never belonged there in the first place.

Lily held him at arm’s length. “Listen, Robert…”

“You’re being sent on assignment.”

“How did you know that?”

“You’re very easy to read.”

Their relationship hadn’t progressed past sharing each other’s company and some fairly heavy make-out sessions. They both had a strong determination to take this slowly. This way of life and being in a co-dependent relationship was as new to Lily as it was to Robert. Spending so much time together had given Robert a keen insight into Lily’s mannerisms and facial expressions that, coupled with his interrogation training, allowed him to read her fairly easily most of the time.

“I miss those days when I could surprise you,” said Lily.

“I think you being a werewolf was surprise enough for me, I’m not sure I could handle anything that big again.”

There had been only one full moon during the last month, preceded by a crescent moon the night before, giving Lily and Robert the warning that a change was coming. On the night of the full moon, Lily locked herself in the dungeon of the Agency Castle to allow for a safe change. She had asked Robert to stay away, which he had. Loving a werewolf had its challenges, but Robert was trying his best to be understanding and helpful.

“I’m being sent to the Grimm Mountains,” said Lily. “The Warrior Gnomes are bordering on a civil war since the death of General Gnarly and we’ve been asked to step in to help find a resolution.”

“How long will you be gone for?”

“No more than a week, hopefully. I look forward to you coming with me one day soon.”

“The Director tells me it’ll be two more months.”

“And then I’ll have to put up with you day in and day out.”

“Sounds horrible.”

“I guess I’ll have to learn to live with it.” She punched him playfully in the shoulder.

Robert smiled and bent slightly to kiss her goodbye. They walked to the castle gates and said their farewells. He watched her walk away until she was out of sight. He’d miss her, but at least this gave him the opportunity to do something he’d been itching to do for the last few weeks.

When he’d begun his training, he was expressly told that he would not be informed about who his father was or where he was being held until his training was complete. The reasons cited were that it would cloud his judgment and slow his training. But Robert had other ideas. He wanted desperately to meet his father. To confront him. To find out who he was and, in turn, find out about himself. He only knew what snippets he’d heard during his journey with Lily and the Gnomes. Bits and pieces he’d picked up from his teachers, who skirted the issue. Most people seemed in awe of who Robert was and where he had come from. Many eyed him suspiciously, as if they expected him to snap at any moment. He knew his father was incarcerated and he knew the main facility for incarceration was simply called the Tower. During his night of door jumping, he’d seen a Tower in a valley and every one of his natural instincts told him that was where his father was held.

With Lily gone, this presented the perfect opportunity. She would never approve of what he was going to do, but she didn’t, couldn’t, understand.

Hand to hand combat was his last class of the day, and he took the hour-long walk back to the City of Oz. He had found that there really were no horses in Thiside; there were many other creatures that were for transportation, but they required money and Robert had little. He didn’t mind the walk.

The sun was descending in a slow and lazy arc when Robert entered the Inn of the Massacred Goat; an unfortunate name, but all the good ones were taken, or so the Innkeeper claimed. He headed upstairs to his small but cosy room and stripped off before wrapping a towel around himself. He walked down the narrow hallway into the shared bathroom and locked the door. The bathtub was set into the wooden flooring and always seemed full of hot water. He was pleased to find that showering was as uncommon as horses in Thiside. Everyone took baths or simply didn’t wash themselves.

Robert soaked himself until he began to turn wrinkly before returning to his bedroom.

“Hello, Robert,” said the Cat when Robert opened the door.

“Bloody hell! You almost gave me a heart attack!” said Robert, clutching his chest.

The Cat, still in the form of a panther, was sitting contentedly on the bedroom’s large feather mattress.

“Tonight’s the night, then?” said the Cat.

“What do you mean?” said Robert, pulling on a pair of jeans he’d purchased at the local market. “What are you doing here? I mean, I assumed I’d see you again, but some sort of forewarning wouldn’t hurt, you know.”

“My deepest apologies. I’m very used to just appearing. I often forget that people aren’t used to that sort of behaviour. I’m here because I told you that I knew your deepest desire and that when you were ready, I’d provide you with a door.”

The Cat swished his long tail back and forth while Robert finished getting dressed.

“I had just planned to look for one outside of the city,” said Robert.

“I’m here to save you the trouble.”

“It would have been no trouble,” said Robert, too quickly.

“Ah,” said the Cat tilting its head, “you’re having second thoughts. You want to delay the actual act to give you time to possibly change your mind.”

Robert sat down on the bed next to the Cat. “It’s daunting.”

“I understand,” said the Cat.

“I want to know so badly, but the thought of meeting whoever man this is terrifies me at the same time.”

“Would you like me to come back another time, then?” said the Cat with a purr.

Robert took a deep breath and stood up. He reached into his bedside drawer and pulled out the silver chain with the vial of blood that the White Rabbit had given him.